Brad Binder goes second fastest on Friday in Qatar

18/03/2016

Red Bull KTM Ajo rider improves his time from Thursday and ends Free Practice 3 in second position. Bo Bendsneyder, eighth, enjoys his best session to date.

Brad Binder, Qatar Moto3 2016

Brad Binder, Qatar Moto3 2016

Friday evening saw a single practice session for the Moto3 class at the Losail International Circuit, in preparation for the Qatar GP. Brad Binder was among those who made best use of the session, setting his best lap of the weekend so far and showing once again that he will be one of the riders to beat in Sunday’s race. The South African was second quickest, with a 2:06.080 top lap, and was joined in the Top 10 by fellow Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Bo Bendsneyder -eighth, with his best placing to date.

Despite a colder track surface to contend with than on Thursday, Brad Binder was one of the few riders able to improve his times from Thursday. After leading the session at the midway point, the South African set his fastest lap on his final attempt; his 2:06.080 placed him just 0.221s off the quickest rider in the session. In eighth, Bo Bendsneyder rode alongside his teammate to gain experience and earned a best time of 2:06.666.

In the combined timesheet of the three Free Practice sessions, Binder and Bendsneyder were third and eleventh, respectively. On Saturday they will contest the first qualifying session of the season, from 6pm local time.

Results (Combined practice time FP1-FP2-FP3)
1. Livio Loi (Honda) 2:05.832
2. Fabio Quartararo (KTM) 2:05.859 +0.027
3. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:06.080 +0.248
4. Joan Mir (KTM) 2:06.160 +0.328
5. Nicolo Bulega (KTM) 2:06.184 +0.352
11. Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:06.477 +0.645

41 BRAD BINDER

“Today was not bad for us. At the beginning my impressions were great and I felt really good. However, with fresh tyres I had a few problems with both the front end and -above all- my riding style. Although it was an issue today, it is something we can improve tomorrow and take an important step forward. If we can fix this, then we will be good to go, because my last stint was not at all bad; I set a good lap time but I had a very bad sector. I’m sure if we overcome this then we can improve by 0.3 or 0.4s.”

64 BO BENDSNEYDER

“Today was a different type of day, with only one practice session. My feeling was good. We went out with used tyres, but I didn’t feel comfortable. We worked in the garage and the feeling and lap times steadily improved. It was a little difficult in the final part of the session due to traffic, but that’s racing, and it’s good to gain experience in that situation as well. Tomorrow we will have to continue working hard, in particular on the front end, and we will look for the highest spot we can on the grid in qualifying.”

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